How To Start the Downswing

In this tip I want to continue on from the tip I did last week on coiling your body. So, last week I talked about coiling, now we are going to talk about uncoiling in the downswing. And that motion is going to allow us to hit our golf shots. OK? So, we’re not just sitting there like this, just whacking at golf balls anymore. If golf was that easy, there would be a lot more good golfers out there. So, what we want to do is what the better players doing. They are coiling their upper body, and they are hitting the ball by uncoiling their lower body. So, in the backswing when we go to coil up it creates a tight feeling, OK? That tight feeling is what’s called torque.

Now, torque is a consistent thing in life. If you coil something up it will snap back the other way 100 percent of the time. So, to demonstrate that I do it with this head cover. So, from right here there’s your feet, here’s your shoulders. If we coil our shoulders, and just let go, the top of the head cover snaps back a 100 percent of the time. So, that’s a very consistent movement. That’s what we want to be basing our back swing on. We want to be creating the torque. Once we’ve created the torque though, we want to unwind the other way, and that’s going to allow us to create even more power and even more consistency. So, here’s what I am talking about. From right here, we take our shoulders, we crank them around. Now, we’re going to take our lower body, and we’re going to unwind our lower body. And in that process the upper body snaps back the other way. So, you can see if I’m going this way, and then I turn the lower body the opposite way. That really compresses the middle of this head cover here.

So, I am coiling up and then I am uncoiling, and that really snaps the upper body through the other way. Now, in order to uncoil what we’re doing is, we’re doing the lesson that I already gave about the touching of the legs position. So, what that means is, as we get to the top of the back swing, and we’re feeling coiled up, all we’re doing is, we’re taking our lower body, and we’re going to trying tight our legs together here. This leg goes straight back. This one comes around and physically touches it. The only way I can get that position is if I turn my body and I allow my weight to shift. Because, if I didn’t shift my weight, I would be stuck on this back foot. There is no way my legs are going to touch. If I go sideways, there is no way my legs are going to touch. So, what we want to try to do is, we want trying strengthen this leg, and allow this leg to come over and touch it. In that process, my lower body is turning in a circular motion which is just like the uncoiling of that head cover. So, here we go. I’ve gone into the backswing, by coiling. So, I’m thinking right here, left shoulder. You can think of your right shoulder if you want, it doesn’t matter. We need to be thinking up here, because these move the most. So, from right here, I take this shoulder, and I crank it around until it gets tight. So, you can see, that’s a tight feeling to me. And I’m very tight normally, so I don’t even get to 90 degrees. So, if you are someone who is tight up here, don’t feel like you have to crank your shoulders way around to hit the ball along way. You don’t have to do that. We just have to get this coiling and uncoiling action. You’re going to hit the ball plenty far. Don’t feel like you’ve got a cranked way around. You just don’t have to do that. From right here I crank up the shoulders, and as soon as I’m feeling that tightness, I take this leg and I literally touch the other leg with it. Now, that’s one sensation that you can get. You can also think of straightening the leg, so you could be thinking about feeling this leg go backwards, like this. If that goes back, this comes around to touch it. You could be thinking about turning your left hip to the left. And that allows the legs to touch. Whatever your thought is, I personally have the weight here, I’m coiled up, I take this leg, and I literally just touch the other leg. That is how I uncoil. That’s the movement I want you to recognize. Want you to recognize which of those things works for you.

I go from the right to the left. You could be thinking of the left just straightens it, and allowing the right to touch. You could be thinking about turning the hip to the left, and allowing them to touch. Anyone of those movements you do causes the others to happen as well. So, if I push from here, my left leg straightens my hip turns. If I turn my hip the weight comes off the right, my legs straightens and my legs touch. OK? So, it’s an uncoiling from the lower body that you want to be recognizing. Now, I get lots of questions about how do I start the downswing, Or when do I start the downswing. With my method, there is no guess work. You start the downswing when you feel the tightness. Soon as you’re coiled up, and you feel that tightness, instantly you uncoil the lower body. So, if I hit a shot for you here, all I’m doing is, I’m coiling my shoulders. Soon as I feel that tightness I uncoil the other way. There is no hesitation, there is no thinking about it, there is no how do I do it, what am I thinking, you know, I know exactly what I am doing. At that moment, as soon as I feel like I am coiled up, I’m thinking right here…

Soon as I feel that I uncoil the other way. And that’s what allows my arms to come down to hit the ball, because my arms are connected to my body. They are not going to stay up here forever. When I make that uncoiling motion, my arms come down and hit the ball. So, I hope you’re starting to understand it. One thing I want you to be aware of, is when you go to uncoil, it’s a circular motion. You’re thinking uncoil. Now, I say that because again, if I demonstrate with this head cover, some people seem to think that you’re going to be moving sideways, or shift to uncoil. Or bump your hips, or you know, I don’t even know any of other ones. They shift, they bump, it’s this lateral sideways type of motion. Well, you don’t want to do that. You want to be going in a circular motion, because again, if I show you with the head cover, right here, I take my shoulders, I coil them up. Well, if I was to move laterally I get a sideways motion here. Well, a sideways motion isn’t going to be as powerful as uncoiling in a circular motion. So, I don’t want to be moving sideways. I want to be moving circular to create the fastest uncoil that I possibly can. Another thing that people tend to do is when they go back they keep the weight over on this side, so they move sideways, and then sideways. OK? We don’t want to do that either, because that’s like taking a head cover and moving it this way. So, we don’t want to be stuck over on this leg, as we get to the top, because then we’re going to be falling backwards as we hit the ball, and that’s not going to be very consistent either. So, hopefully you understand it, I’m taking it upper, I’m coiling until I’m tight. Once I’m tight I uncoil by touching the legs. That’s going to cause my lower body to move, and of course I’m going to create that snapping action with my upper body. My upper body will move my arms down to hit the ball, and I’m going to be very, very consistent. Hopefully you’ve got it. We’re uncoiling now, we coil up, we’re going to uncoil to hit the ball. Please ask your questions, post your comments below, I’ll try to get through it as many as I can.